Reykjavík Pride 2019’s super-sized anniversary

Stonewall 50 and 20 years of Reykjavik Pride

The year 2019 is going to be a big one for queer society both in Iceland and worldwide. It’s both fifty years from the Stonewall riots, and Reykjavík Pride’s twentieth anniversary. To honour the Stonewall uprising, the watershed event that launched the modern queer rights movement, the largest queer event in the world, WorldPride, will take place June 2019 in New York City. Millions of people are expected to attend.

Fifteen hundred guests showed up for the first ‘queer weekend’ at Ingólfstorg in 1999. A year later twelve thousand people came to see the first Pride Parade. Today the parade is an annual event and one of the best-attended festivals in Iceland.

Now Reykjavík Pride 2019, bigger than ever, starts on Thursday, 8 August and runs for ten days. The schedule will include informative and entertaining events, culminating in the Parade and outdoor festival on Saturday, 17 August.

Gunnlaugur Bragi Björnsson, President of Reykjavik Pride:

“A truly big year to celebrate is coming up. A vast amount has been achieved since Reykjavík Pride was first held, and especially since Stonewall. So on this occasion we’re extending the Pride celebrations in Reykjavik. This way we have the scope to offer even more educational events than before, plus bigger and better evening events like concerts, drag shows and parties.

The aim is, as before, to appreciate successes achieved while improving the visibility of queer people and continuing the struggle, since many victories are still not won.”